Move Carefully On Air Security

September 11, 1996

Vice President Al Gore, as one of the architects of the Clinton administration's new strategy to combat terrorism in the skies, injected an appropriate dose of reality even as he promoted the plan: There is no silver bullet or single magic answer to ensure that airlines and airports are safe from madmen.

Indeed there is not, and that is good advice for the administration before it charges ahead to implement all aspects of its $430 million initiative--some of which may provide dubious return for the investment and some of which may unduly compromise the convenience and privacy of airline passengers.

The strategy was drafted by a commission headed by Gore and appointed shortly after the mysterious explosion of TWA Flight 800 off Long Island in July. It did its work with lightning speed, which is at once commendable and cause for concern that it may have been too hasty in its deliberations--rushing for solutions to a threat whose dimensions are not at all clear.

The crash of Flight 800 seemed to be a wakeup call. There is evidence of an explosive having been on board, and yet there still is no certainty as to what caused the tragedy or who may have been responsible. Further, there is no history of terrorists attacking U.S. planes from U.S. airports; they have been more likely to do their ugly work beyond our shores.

Certainly anything that reasonably can be done to increase the margin of safety should be done, and several aspects of the administration plan are welcome, if not overdue. They include more stringent security checks for airport workers; improving screening of mail and cargo on passenger flights; matching all luggage with passengers on all domestic flights; doubling the number of Federal Aviation Administration security agents and beefing up Customs Service passenger-screening teams; increasing the FAA budget for anti-terrorism research; and deploying another 114 bomb-sniffing dogs at airports.

There is promise as well in installing a variety of high-technology devices to screen baggage for bombs and to detect even minute traces of explosives. These technologies, however, have not yet been perfected and could cause enormous delays if rushed into the widespread use the administration envisions.

Most problematic is creating computer profiles of passengers, using such things as their travel habits and credit histories, to see if they fit the mold of terrorists--then subjecting those who do to intensive inspection. Civil libertarians correctly see this as excessive invasion of privacy without evidence, and shrewd terrorists probably could outwit it anyway.

The administration is right to seek greater precautions against terrorists, but it also must be cautious in how it proceeds.